NEIGHBOURS! EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD... NEIGHBOURS

WITH A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING, EVERYBODY CAN BE... FRIENDS.

In the past few days, Malaysia has managed to make itself on the the bbc website! But it never seems to be for good news and it was no different a few days ago. This time it was because of international relations between themselves and their neighbours, the Indonesians, who have caused dark, thick smoke to blow over the country due to farmers clearing the land by burning the land to create space for farming in the next planting season. This is actually an annual thing that has been going for years and years and years and years but this year the winds have blown the smoke right into Malaysia and created a thicker haze than in previous years (and those less hazy days made people complain enough).

How bad was it this year? The Air Pollutant Index scale to measure quality of air ranges from:


Well in most parts of the capital of Kuala Lumpur, it was in the 200s which meant schools were closed and that people were wearing face masks when outdoors - in an attempt to filter out the smoke. Chris, my fellow Englishman, who lives and works in K.L., said that it was like being in a permanent thick fog.

In Port Klang where my in-laws stay, which is geographically very close to Indonesia, the A.P.I. was over 300! Obviously those in the capital were in up in arms about this - a foreign country were affecting the economy, suffocating our children (won't anyone think of the children?), polluting the enviroment, destroying all the hard work created by the Malaysian Tourism Board etc etc etc by simply burning lots of stuff. And as all the political finger pointing went on, which basically means the Indonesian goverment blamed it on Malaysian companies who were farming in their country (but as you are in charge of your own country, you have some control over this y'know) + it's the poor, rural farmers who are doing it and we can't (be bothered to) educate them + lots of other excuses, I still wouldn't bet against it happening again like it has in the previous umm decade.

A more journalistic way of putting it can be found on this link: Malaysian Smog Emergency Lifted.

However as Penangites, we laughed at the K.L. people because we were miles and miles away with our relatively cleaner air.

But then on Saturday, I opened the front door early in the morning and got hit with the strong smell of smoke which felt like it was from a fire. (Occasionally some of the vegetable farmers do some burning to get rid of branchs in the field behind our flat.) I thought to myself, "who is stupid enough to do open burning when there is so much publicity about the decreasing air quality?"

However when I got to the car and drove to the middle of Penang, the smoke was everywhere! The haze had come to Penang (and at this point all the K.L.ers laugh at me). The haze was impressive for the single reason that it had flew over several hundred kilometers and still managed to retain that smokey smell. I could even taste the burning sensation at the back of my throat by simply breathing it in!

The restrictive view didn't bother me so much (probably not as much as airline pilots!) as it only served to show how bad the air quality was. The college where I was driving to has an open air courtyard system to allow fresh air into the central area (for cooling purposes) and on this day, the air that came in was probably not quite what the architect had in mind when in the design stage - it was incredibly polluted as you could see the particles of dust when the light was behind it. However it take make a good starting point for conversation when I was stuck in a room full of people I don't know...

I blame the K.L.ers. Obviously when they all drove up for a weekend of escape, it was simply the haze following them up the North-South Expressway in an attempt to spoil their holiday!

I did a survey of local people (well ok, I only asked my friend Grace) to see what they thought of the situation and they (she) said that it wasn't the first time it has happened. There was an incident about 7 years ago where the haze was similarly thick too. However they (she) didn't wholly blame the Indonesian government for it all - the Malaysian government doesn't fare much better when looking after their own environment. An interesting (if somewhat limited) local point of view there.

For some views, experiences and opinions of other people in K.L., please click on this B.B.C. link to read more.

(P.S. I would like at this advertise the trip to Singapore 2 posts down in case you missed it. Look! There's even a photograph!)  ¶ 7:28 pm